Forgive my asking, but what are the mods? From what I can remember, the NW/DL A330s already have at least competitive Economy accommodations and of course the old angled lie-flat seats up front. I would imagine they'll bump the BE seating up to current true lie-flat standards, but what else is being done/changed?

Quoting GSPSPOT (Reply 2):Forgive my asking, but what are the mods? From what I can remember, the NW/DL A330s already have at least competitive Economy accommodations and of course the old angled lie-flat seats up front. I would imagine they'll bump the BE seating up to current true lie-flat standards, but what else is being done/changed?

The coach cabin is also getting a complete gutting to Delta spec. New carpets, new seats, sidewalls, reconfigured galley, updated AVOD system, etc.

As in making them smaller or bigger? I find galley logistics fascinating and notice that galleys are becoming even smaller and more tightly packed on many aircraft even if the number of seats increase. Not much ergonomical consideration. Or is DL different?

Nope. No flight attendant was a fan of the A330 galleys in the original condition. There were doors that covered the carts, so that the carts were in a 'chiller'. The problem is, you'd have to open the chiller door, amd depending on where the cart was in that chiller, take the cart out a few inches to open the door and pull out a drawer. A complete hassle.

So most of us Flight Attendants thought "Anything would be better than what we have." And then we saw what wewere getting. *sigh*

My opinion is whoever designs galley on airplanes must have a flight attendant as an ex-wife/ex-husband/spurned lover.

Quoting GSPSPOT (Reply 2): and of course the old angled lie-flat seats up front. I would imagine they'll bump the BE seating up to current true lie-flat standards, but what else is being done/changed?

They were never "angled" seats--they were the plastic pod-type BC seat.

Quoting CRJ900 (Reply 6):As in making them smaller or bigger? I find galley logistics fascinating and notice that galleys are becoming even smaller and more tightly packed on many aircraft even if the number of seats increase. Not much ergonomical consideration. Or is DL different?

The original forward galley was a terrible design with no counter workspace and by door 1R there was a unit that is as described above. It house one full length cart and 4 half carts and you were forever having to juggle things around to get what you needed.

Probably the dumbest thing was that this one unit houses not only a heavy duty chiller unit, but a bun warmer and coffeemaker that give off tremendous amounts of heat. It also holds the main computer that controls the AVOD system. Now anyone with even a basic knowledge of computers knows that they do not like to be subjected to huge swings in temperature. That poor system was constantly fighting to stay working with blasts of hot and cold air constantly dumped on it.

Now all BC food service is done from the #2 galley and the front is used for storage and beverages. The aft galley services the main cabin.

For some reason all of the liquid drains were located directly under the coffeemaker hot plates which mean that in order to dump a liquid you had to move the coffeepot,, close the unit (which has a terrible tendency to grab your knuckles), dump the liquid, then pull the drawer out with the hotplate.

Depending on the aircraft type, there are some good and some not so good galley designs. Most f/a's like the forward 767 galley very well. The MD88/90 are terrible, especially since they removed the aft galley totally and put in more seats. Eventually you just learn to work around the dysfunctional aspects to get the job done. We all develop little tricks and shortcuts to make life easier and then pass them on.

Qualified on Concorde/B707/B720/B727/B737/B747/B757/B767/B777/DC-8/DC-9/DC-10/A319/A320/A330/MD-88-90

Does this mod do away with the horrendous blockage underneath the window seats? I assume that it's some sort of IFE box? I've been trying to avoid the DL A330's because of that dratted thing, and it would be wonderful if the blockage is going away.

Quoting PITingres (Reply 9):Does this mod do away with the horrendous blockage underneath the window seats? I assume that it's some sort of IFE box? I've been trying to avoid the DL A330's because of that dratted thing, and it would be wonderful if the blockage is going away.

It is indeed the brains of the IFE and no, it is not going away nor will it on other airlines. Ya gotta give a little to get a little. One problem we have always had is when people shove stuff under the seat and knock out the canon plugs disabling every seat behind them.

Qualified on Concorde/B707/B720/B727/B737/B747/B757/B767/B777/DC-8/DC-9/DC-10/A319/A320/A330/MD-88-90

The galleys on the A330 (as on most modern aircraft) are selected by the airline. IIRC, NWA selected Driessen galleys when they bought the A330s . It is possible that the design issues are peculiar to Driessen, and not to B/E Aerospace and other galley makers who make galleys for the A330, perhaps someone closer to the galley design business can comment?

Quoting rwy04lga (Reply 20):You would prefer hot and filthy? What changes would you suggest?

Why get so defensive?

The interior is cold and sterile. Even Delta Fanboys (myself included) can admit that.

They would have benefited from some softer colors, more detailing on the seats versus the off the shelf option. Given their capex budget, they spent what they could, but that doesn't mean the cabin is warm and inviting...

Those pictures you showed were the new DL seats. The original NW seats were not angled. I worked on the first A330 and the 747's after they were modified and they were NOT repeat NOT angled. The had a plastic pod that slid forward and reclined. No angling was required. They were set 2-2 in A zone on the 747 and 2-3-2 on the A330 and 747 B zone. 747 upper deck was 2-2.

Having spent thousands of hours on those airplanes I know what I am talking about. I also had my fingers crushed trying to manually return them upright after the electrical system failed.

Qualified on Concorde/B707/B720/B727/B737/B747/B757/B767/B777/DC-8/DC-9/DC-10/A319/A320/A330/MD-88-90